[Cine21] - A Love Story Between a Korean Man and an American Woman

Published September 20, 2006

Behind-the-Scenes of Never Forever in New York

Never Forever, directed by Gina Kim and regarded as the first true Korea-U.S. co-production, recently wrapped filming. From casting Vera Farmiga to completing location shoots in New York, we take a closer look at the full scope of the Never Forever production.

Korean cinema is knocking on the walls of the massive American film market. While Korean films continue to dominate in Asia, their presence in North America remains marginal. For example, Zhang Yimou’s Hero secured over 3,000 screens and topped the U.S. box office, whereas Taegukgi only managed to open on 29 screens during its U.S. release. Regardless of how a film is evaluated or how full the seats are per screen, Korean films remain a permanent minority in the North American market.

Recently, a wave of Korea-U.S. co-productions has emerged to target the firmly established U.S. market. LJ Film is co-producing Princess Julia with Focus Features, the company behind Brokeback Mountain, and IHQ has even established a branch office in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, CJ Entertainment plans to distribute directly within the U.S. through West 32nd, a film directed by Korean-American filmmaker Michael Kang.

These examples differ in quality from earlier co-productions that simply hired American crews for location shooting. The first to truly mark the start of Korea–U.S. co-productions was Never Forever, directed by Gina Kim and starring Ha Jung-woo, David McInnis, and Vera Farmiga, which wrapped filming in early September. Gina Kim, known for Gina Kim’s Video Diary (2001) and Invisible Light (2003), which was invited to the Locarno International Film Festival, currently teaches film production at Harvard University. Now Film, whose debut production was Park Heung-sik’s My Mother, the Mermaid (2004), partnered with VOX3 to take on this ambitious second project.

VOX3 is a mid-sized production company that gained attention after producing Secretary, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It also produced Fur, starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr., the opening film of the inaugural Rome Film Festival this year. Of course, Never Forever is not a blockbuster like Hero or Taegukgi, nor is Gina Kim a widely recognized name in Korea. However, Never Forever stands out as a noteworthy case of a mid-budget genre film strategically targeting the North American market, with efficient distribution and full-scale production operations within the U.S. system.

Never Forever is a powerful love story

Director Gina Kim had been in talks with Now Film about her next project for some time. Now Film’s CEO Lee Joon-dong, who had taken an interest in her, anticipated that she could bring a different sensibility to Korean cinema. While developing a different project last year, the script remained unfinished, and Kim returned to the U.S., saying she needed more time to think. Not long after, she sent the first treatment of Never Forever. Having lived in the U.S. for a long time, Kim infused the treatment with subtle emotional textures of American life, which also resonated deeply with Korean sensibilities. The result was a conventional yet passionate melodrama, markedly different from her earlier works. Lee Joon-dong approved the first treatment without hesitation. Director Kim herself described it as a “100% melodrama,” and Lee echoed that it was “a sensitive yet populist love story, faithful to the dramaturgy of classic romance films.” Compared to Kim’s earlier works like Gina Kim’s Video Diary or Invisible Light, this film leaned much more heavily into genre, embracing the structure of a traditional drama.

Andrew (played by David McInnis), a successful Korean-American lawyer, is married to Sophie (played by Vera Farmiga), a white woman. Though they live in New York, his family strictly adheres to the values of a traditional Korean community that places a high value on sons. Sophie feels out of place in this environment. She wants to have a son as the family expects, but is unable to conceive. Adding to this is her husband’s abuse. Eventually, in a desperate attempt to have a child, Sophie enters into a sexual contract with Jiha (played by Ha Jung-woo), a Korean man she meets by chance, offering sex in exchange for sperm. However, what began as a transaction begins to burn with the intensity of a true love affair.

Never Forever is built on a series of unabashedly conventional emotions. And yet, that very quality is what makes its emotional resonance so powerful. The experimental style and auteurist tone that director Gina Kim showcased in her previous works offer no bias or preconceived expectations here. Producer Lee Joon-dong explains, “I was drawn to Never Forever because it’s so gripping and such a universally relatable melodrama. You’ll see how something seemingly conventional can deliver such raw emotional power.”

Director Kim is also acutely aware that Never Forever is her first truly commercial film. Aside from calling it “my first commercial film,” she doesn’t assign it any special meaning. However, that decision itself reveals her desire to engage a broader audience by staying true to the conventions of commercial cinema. Still, Kim is just as firm about her principles: “I won’t make anything unless I have genuine affection for the subject or the story.”

“Cinema, as a medium, inherently involves a kind of voyeurism, and so you need a justification for that gaze,” Kim says. “For me, that justification is an intense affection for the subject. If I had to name my recurring theme, it would be: people who want what they’re not supposed to want, who fall in love with someone they’re not supposed to love—people who, through that, end up sacrificing everything and ultimately discovering themselves. That’s the constant thread running through all my films.”

Collaboration with VOX3, and Vera Farmiga

The setting of Never Forever is New York. Like previous Korean films, it could have cast local actors, filmed on location in the U.S., and staffed the crew entirely with Koreans. In fact, this would have been the more convenient choice from a producer’s standpoint. However, producer Lee Joon-dong decided to expand his approach and envisioned a Korean-American co-production. Upon rethinking the process, he realized that this route might actually be easier in the long run.

Lee explains, “It reduces the burden while increasing opportunities. From a producer's perspective, the usual way is more comfortable, but after internal discussions, we concluded that co-production would be better. If we had managed the on-site production ourselves, we would’ve had to split our attention and wasted energy we should’ve devoted to the creative side. And frankly, casting a talented actor like Vera Farmiga would’ve been much harder.”

He continues, “So we contacted VOX3 with the idea that we’d handle the script and creative side, while they, with their experience, would manage local hires and production logistics.” But what mattered most was the screenplay. “The response to the script at VOX3 was overwhelmingly positive. Had they not been drawn to the story itself, the co-production likely wouldn’t have happened.”

VOX3, led by producer Andrew Fierberg, had already garnered attention in Korea with the release of Secretary. Director Steven Shainberg, who was deeply involved in VOX3’s production of Secretary, later directed Fur, casting Nicole Kidman and bringing on The Matrix’s cinematographer Bill Pope, which quickly established him as a notable figure. Steven Fierberg, the cinematographer for Secretary, is Andrew Fierberg’s younger brother. While Steven entered the film industry first, Andrew later followed, and by the time VOX3 was founded, he was already a seasoned producer with over 20 titles under his belt.

As the co-production plans progressed, Lee Joon-dong invited Andrew to the Busan International Film Festival last year. The two became close friends—bonding over soju—and the project quickly gained momentum.

While Lee was in New York for the filming of Never Forever, Andrew proudly took him to a newly discovered Korean restaurant and even offered soju himself—proof of how deeply he'd embraced Korean culture. The successful casting of Vera Farmiga and the involvement of other talented crew members in Never Forever were all made possible thanks to the co-production with VOX3.

Once the full-scale casting process began, Now Film suggested about three well-known actors. However, all of them were already tied up with other projects, making it difficult to cast them easily. Around that time, the local casting director recommended Vera Farmiga. However, even she wasn’t a guaranteed option, as she was a rising star with five films slated for release in 2006.

She had won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for Down to the Bone, which had not yet been released in Korea. She was also cast in the lead role (originally played by Kelly Chen in Infernal Affairs) in Martin Scorsese’s remake The Departed, causing her popularity to soar. Korean audiences had previously seen her leave a strong impression in Running Scared.

A feature article on her was even published in the New York Times on September 3. Director Gina Kim was more than satisfied with her.

“I first saw Vera in Down to the Bone,” she said. “She also starred in several other films unreleased in Korea, such as The Dumm with Adrien Brody, and I thought she was an incredibly intense actress. Sure enough, not long after, I heard that Martin Scorsese was so impressed by her that he cast her as the female lead opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in The Departed.

Director Anthony Minghella, who cast her in his new film Breaking and Entering, was also reportedly going around publicly saying she was a great actress. The casting director warned us she was in such high demand that she’d be difficult to cast. We sent her the script with some doubt, but a few days later, she said she loved it and came out to meet me despite having a fever over 40°C. I was incredibly grateful—and from the first moment, I felt she was the perfect Sophie.”

Moreover, at the wrap party, Vera Farmiga—led by Korean crew members to her very first karaoke experience—refused to put down the mic until only four people remained. She became just as much of a Koreaphile as producer Andrew Fierberg.

Ha Jung-woo’s commitment was equally commendable—he performed all his lines in English throughout the shoot without issue.

A Model for Korea-U.S. Co-Productions

Producer Lee Joon-dong takes immense pride in Never Forever as not only the first true Korea-U.S. co-production, but also the one most faithful to that system. “I believe this is the most desirable approach for Korean films entering the American market. It’s time we stepped beyond the domestic market and started knocking on America’s door,” he said. “Even though this isn’t a blockbuster, it’s a properly budgeted film that allows us to fully experience the American film industry and production system—hopefully passing down the know-how gained in the process.” In that sense, Never Forever wasn’t just about hiring local staff—it involved learning to directly manage the entire production process. Although they were initially nervous, that fear gave way to confidence.

Aside from an early hiccup—when they discovered too late that they needed production permits from actors’ and transportation unions in order to secure work visas—the rest of the process went relatively smoothly. “There were no major difficulties during the shoot. Everything went according to plan. At first, I was worried about the language barrier and differences in crew temperament,” said Lee, “but just like there are slight differences between camera and lighting crews in Korea, I noticed similar nuances here. It made me realize that ‘filmmakers are the same everywhere,’ and I found that fascinating.” For example, one amusing anecdote: the local American casting director had trouble distinguishing between Asian faces, so when they needed to cast extras for a Korean family, they mistakenly brought in people of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent.

Another misconception that was cleared up: many thought the U.S. production system would be rigid due to strict contracts. In reality, it’s a highly flexible system with a variety of contract conditions. There are multiple working condition options—Monday to Friday for 8 hours, Monday to Friday for 12 hours, Monday to Saturday for 8 hours, and so on. Never Forever used the Monday—Friday 12-hour model. But this didn’t mean a fixed 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. schedule; rather, the hours shifted based on call time. If call time was 8 a.m., then wrap time was 8 p.m. Lee explained, “With thorough pre-production, the system is actually quite reasonable. There’s a lot of paperwork, though. Crew members submit daily time sheets, and instead of paying them directly, you pay the union. A union-accounting firm processes the paperwork and handles payroll. It might seem inefficient at first, but all of it comes together into a unified system that really reflects the unique nature of film production.”

Producer Yoo Eun-jung also remarked, “It was an invaluable experience—one that couldn’t have been gained through simple location shooting alone. Never Forever is the first Korean film to be produced without issue within the notoriously rigid systems of the American film industry unions and the Screen Actors Guild.” The majority of Never Forever was shot on location, and once filming permits were secured, police would accompany the crew to support site management and logistics, which helped the process run more smoothly.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Never Forever features some of the most striking New York scenery ever captured in a Korean film. The biggest hurdle, however, came not from the production system itself but before filming began. Given the film’s focus on passionate love and desire, it naturally included a fair number of nude scenes.

In Hollywood, nude scene agreements must be negotiated in advance and tend to be quite strict. But prior to the shoot, Vera Farmiga decided to waive nearly all of the 15-page nudity contract, with only a few exceptions—such as no frontal nudity and no camera shots extending below her hips. This was a clear indication of how much she believed in the project. However, at some point, she began to worry—was this film exploiting her commercially? Given that this was unlike anything else in her filmography and involved a production system unfamiliar to her, it’s understandable that she felt uneasy and uncertain during filming. Around that time, the production hit a serious snag—but after Vera watched Gina Kim’s previous films and had deeper conversations with her, the misunderstanding completely cleared up. This episode demonstrates that in a Korea-U.S. co-production, the real challenges aren’t in the system—it’s all about the “software” of the film itself: the story, the trust, and the artistic collaboration. Thus, Never Forever—a small but significant first step in Korea-U.S. co-production—plans to meet its audience early next year.